Dare I try to do the nearly damn impossible and rank the film entries in the MCU?
It’s a very daunting task, because how do you choose between some of these? Is recency bias really a thing? Thunderbolts* over Iron Man? Black Panther not in the top 10? What the f*** am I even doing?

The important thing to remember with the below list is that these are ranked not by cinematic achievement or a carefully plotted out chart or an algorithm to determine what are truly the best MCU entries. These are based solely on how much enjoyment I derive from them. You might think I’m a madman, or that finally (FINALLY!) somebody truly gets you, but regardless of whether or not you disagree with my choices (I’m sure Erik will have a completely different breakdown) I hope you enjoy reading!

20. Iron Man 3 

Directed by: Shane Black

One of the more divisive entries in the MCU, especially with regards to the Mandarin twist, some may feel I have this ranked way too high. Others, not high enough. I tend to lean towards the latter. While I understand what people don’t like about it, it’s one of my favorite Downey performances in the MCU, and I love how it deals with the emotional fallout from the events of the Avengers. Plus, I really enjoy the back-to-basics approach the story forces Tony into (how great is his armor-less assault on the bad guy base?). More screen time for Rhodey is great, too, even if they do have him as the Iron Patriot and not War Machine.

The Extremis enhanced bad guys are cool, but they lean towards ‘nameless goon’ territory a little too much. Guy Pearce does a good job as Aldrich Killian, both in his dweeby pre-AIM phase and his monologuing superpowered bad guy phase.

I can’t be the only one, but I just don’t like Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. I’m sorry, everyone, I tried with her. I really did.

* * * * * *
19. Ant-Man 

Directed by: Peyton Reed

An entertaining, funny and fun heist movie with shrinking and talking to ants: what’s not to love?

Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang is one of the most affable, likeable leads in the entire MCU. Watching him work with Hank and Hope Pym to learn how to use the Ant-Man suit is great fun, and there are numerous really great jokes sprinkled throughout (I like how Scott names ants with names that include the word ‘ant’, like “Antony”). The effects are terrific, and the growth/shrinking concept is used to great effect, not only by us seeing the world through Scott’s eyes as he is tiny, but by having the camera on Ant-Man in his small state doing something, then it hard cuts to a wide shot in the ‘real’ world where something happens as a consequence of tiny Ant-Man (the train set during the fight with Yellowjacket). Also, by having regular, everyday items suddenly become huge, like the Thomas the Tank Engine toy.

Darren Cross is a little ‘generic evil businessman doing evil business’ at times, but he looks really cool in the Yellowjacket armor and his fight with Ant-Man is Ant-Man’s best fight to date. Well, with the possible exception of the very welcome Falcon vs Ant-Man fight in the middle of the movie.

* * * * * *
18. Deadpool & Wolverine

Directed by: Shawn Levy

This is a weird one and hard to rank, really.  It’s great; it’s incredibly fun, it’s really funny, and it makes great use not only of the team-up between Deadpool and Wolverine but of the multi-verse angle and the TVA’s version of the land of forgotten toys, complete with all of the Fox-Men castoffs and a few surprises. Less of an MCU movie and more of a fond farewell to the Fox universe and a few others, it uses references, the TVA, and a few cameos to make it feel more MCU-ish (why the hell was Thor crying?).

It’s great seeing Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm show up and almost immediately get horribly murdered, just like it’s fun seeing some of the Fox-Men villains in the big battle royale, but the real treats are Wesley Snipes’ Blade returning and Channing Tatum finally getting a chance to portray Gambit.

As far as Deadpool and Wolverine are concerned, there are two really great fights between the two of them (one on the bones of 20th Century Fox’s logo), Wolverine gets to be very foul-mouthed and incredibly violent, Deadpool gets to fanboy over Wolverine, and we finally, finally (F*ing FINALLY) get to see Wolverine in his costume, white eyed-cowl and all, and it’s god damn glorious. Jackman is getting too old to play this character, but you’d never know it by looking at him (dude is in insane shape), and as Deadpool himself said, Jackman will be doing this until he’s 90.

Cassandra Nova is kind of an odd choice for the villain, but she works really well.

* * * * * *
17. Spider-Man: Far From Home 

Directed by: Jon Watts

Despite the fact that this is one of the more entertaining Spider-Man films, I don’t think many people would argue with me when I say it’s probably the weakest of the MCU Spider-Man entries. It’s not weak, it’s really an entertaining movie with a lot to like about it and some stuff to love about it. There are a lot of jokes that land (some that don’t), particularly with Peter’s classmates and teachers. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man, as always, is wonderful, but it might be Jake Gyllenhall’s Mysterio that really steals the show here.

A former Stark employee who has banded together with other former Stark employees with stolen Stark tech plus their expert fields uses drones and holographic technology to make himself in Mysterio, hero from the multiverse, when in reality, he’s just an asshole (just like the books!) pulling one over on everyone. The scene where it’s revealed to the audience that Mysterio is a villain is great.

What’s really, really, really great, however, is every Mysterio vs Spider-Man scene. The visual tricks and twists and turns in the fight are spectacular.

Also, the Night Monkey? That’s great. (“Maybe he’s a spider monkey”)

* * * * * *

16. Black Panther

Directed by: Ryan Coogler

One of the very best MCU entries, one of the best origin movies, and just a nearly perfect film. For 90% of it.

The big fight at the end is really weak, especially the T’Challa vs Killmonger CGI fight. It’s such a shame, too, because before the big finale stumbles a little bit this movie was setting the bar for what you could do with a superhero movie, especially visually (that Coogler sure knows what he’s doing).

The overall production is fantastic: the costumes and set design are out of this world, the music is great, the writing and direction are great, as is the acting (Jordan’s Killmonger and Boseman’s T’Challa are just awesome). There’s a reason “Wakanda forever!” has stuck around in the lexicon for a decade: this movie pushes every right button to make it entertaining, engaging, thrilling, and memorable. One of the MCU crown jewels, even if it loses some points for me for the rubbery CGI (Blade 2 level) fight at the end.

RIP Chadwick.

* * * * * *

15. Dr. Strange

Directed by: Scott Derrickson

One of my favorite MCU solo films, Doctor Strange is a wonderful, endlessly creative dive into the magical side of the Marvel universe, and it does not disappoint.

Yes, it’s very similar structurally to Iron Man and a few other origin stories, but the visual creativity sets it apart from its contemporaries. I also enjoy the subversion of expectations with regards to the final fight scene with Kaecilius and his henchman: it looks like we are heading for yet another beam in the sky, city destroying kind of finale, but just before it becomes just another one of those the Time stone is brought into play, and we get a very different kind of battle.

Same goes for Strange’s confrontation with the dread Dormammu. Instead of a bunch of posturing and a big crazy magical showdown (which we all would have enjoyed), Strange outsmarts his opponent and we get one of the most quotable scenes in the MCU: “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain”.

The sequel is great, but it doesn’t quite reach the highs of this one. For one thing, no kids singing about ice cream. *shudder*

* * * * * * *
14. Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3

Directed by: James Gunn

Who would have guessed the saddest MCU film would be the final part of a space pirate trilogy with a talking racoon and tree? Not me, that’s for sure, yet here we all are (yes, you, too) absolutely crushed by a couple of talking CGI animals. Who hurt you, James Gunn?

While we get a lot of attention spent on the Star-Lord/Gamora relationship, which is super complicated after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the real star of this chapter is Rocket. We finally get his history, and it’s… it’s fucking dark. Really, really dark.

The High Evolutionary rears his crazy head at last in this film, and he’s one of the MCU’s very best villains. He’s just so damned evil and completely without any kind of morality. It is incredibly satisfying to see him get his comeuppance, even if it’s pretty gruesome.

Everyone has an arc, no matter how small, even the newly arrived Adam Warlock (who, while vastly different from his comic book counterpart, is a welcome addition and eventual team member). By the end, the main cast of Guardians has their stories wrapped up and are essentially retired from the MCU. While we may see more Guardians stories, and it looks like we are going to get more Star-Lord, it’s sad to see the likes of Drax, Nebula, Gamora and Mantis go.

* * * * * *
13. Iron Man

Directed by: Jon Favreau

The film that started it all, there is no MCU without Iron Man being awesome, and despite them being able to perfect the formula after dozens of movies over the last nearly 20 years (wtf), it has rarely been done better than this!

Robert Downey, Jr has one of the most radical career revivals I’ve ever seen thanks to his performance as Tony Stark. He’s so note-perfect that he’s got to be on any ‘best casting ever’ list. He’s so good that it’s impossible not to hear his voice when you read Iron Man now. In fact, over time his comic book counterpart has become more and more like him, to the point that the Downey Iron Man IS Iron Man.

This film is fantastic, and it turned Iron Man into a household name that’s right there with the likes of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and the Hulk. With the possible exception of some of the fight with the Iron Monger at the end it’s damn near a perfect movie, and while I give a lot of credit to director Jon Favreau and to the supporting cast, as well as the unbelievable effects team, it’s Downey that turns this into what it is: the foundation of the biggest franchise in film history.

* * * * * *
12. Thunderbolts*

Directed by: Jack Schreier

It’s hard to believe one of my favorite Avengers movies has a line-up of the Winter Solider, Ghost, the Red Guardian, the second Black Widow, and US Agent (well, that last one isn’t a surprise, I love me some US Agent). Yes, the Sentry is a big part of it, but he’s really more of an obstacle than a team member (although Bob is straight up one of the gang) and the Void is the big bad they have to fight, so you’re left with a gang of emotionally stunted trauma factories that, as Yelena herself puts it, ‘just punch and shoot’.

And it totally works.

Florence Pugh, besides being one of the most beautiful people ever put on screen, is endlessly entertaining as Yelena, as we saw in Black Widow and again in Hawkeye (she’s also great in a small role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day). David Harbor is hilarious as always as the Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell gets to expand on his US Agent to make him more three dimensional (well, more of a three-dimensional asshole, at least), and Sebastian Stan cements himself as the glue of the MCU. It’s also great to see how the damaged side of the superhero community sees Bucky as the absolute man, like he’s all of their favorite.

Using the Sentry/Void situation as a metaphor for depression is a brilliant move, and it elevates the film and gives it something to say.

The reveal that the actual name of the film isn’t Thunderbolts, but rather the name given to the team at the end. They’re not the Thunderbolts, but rather the new Avengers team, even going so far as to having their new headquarters be the old Stark-then Avengers tower, and it seems they will be front and center in the upcoming Doomsday. Can’t wait to see Sentry v Doom!

* * * * * *
11. Thor: Ragnarok

Directed by: Taika Waititi

The best of the Thor films to date, Ragnarok works really well despite having some very conflicting tones: the story is about Thor’s older sister coming to kill everyone, Thor’s father dying, his people all being slaughtered, and all but one or two of his friends getting killed, plus Thor is lost on a faraway planet where he’s enslaved and forced to fight in a gladiator arena, and when he returns home an army of zombie skeletons are trying to murder everyone that’s still alive and his sister pulls his eye out of his head. Also, it’s really funny.

Huh? How the hell does that work? I’ve seen the movie five or six times now and I’m still not sure how they pulled it off. It shouldn’t work. The humor is so prevalent that the dark stuff should feel goofy, and the story is so dark the humor should feel grossly out of place. But it never does, it just works the entire time. It’s like Waititi is pulling a magic trick off right in front of you.

Hemsworth is great as Thor, as always, and Hiddleston is great as Loki, as always, but Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster are wonderful additions (even if Valkyrie has been horribly used since) and the Hulk outright steals the show. It’s a shame the balance of humor vs (for lack of a better term) horror wasn’t nearly as well done in the follow-up, which leaned too hard into the humor, because the more movies we get like Thor: Ragnarok, that can pull off this kind of balancing act, the better!

* * * * * *

That’s it for this time! Be sure to keep an eye on this space for part 4: the top 10!

Also, be sure to check out part 1 here, and part 2 here if you haven’t already!